Pneumatic actuating unit.



N. MAGNUSON.

PNEUMATIC AGTUATING UNIT, APPLIGATIM TILED FEB. 9, 1911.

Patented Oct. 15, 1912.

2 SHEETSSHEET 1.

N. MAGNUSON.

PNEUMATIC ACTUATING UNIT.

APPLICATION FILED FEBJJ, 1911,

Patented 001s. 15,1912.

2 SHEET S-SHBET 2,

5 ma Moz Nels M Q/mhw mm:

nets itaenuseiv, or rear warns, INDIAN A, ASSIGNGR TO THE PACKARDCOMPANY,

6F FORT WAYNE, INDIANA, A CORPORATIGN OF INDIANA.

PNEUMATIC ACTUATING UNIT.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, NELS MAoNUsoN, a citizen of the United States, and aresident of Fort lVayne, in the county of Allen and State of lndiana,have invented certain new. and useful Improvements in PneumaticActuating Units, of which the following is a specification.

This invention reiates to pneumatic actuating units for automaticmusical instruments such as player pianos and has for its object toprovide a device of the class specified, simple in construction andeasily and simply removable and interchangeable in the instrument towhich it pertains.

To these ends my improvements comprise means illustrated in theirpreferred form in the drawings accompanying this specification whereinFigural is a vertical sectional elevation of a bank of pneumatic unitsembodying .my improvements. Fig.2 is a sideelevati'on partly in sectionshowing one of my improved units partly Withdrawn. a plan view of one ofmy improved units.

. Fig. 4c is an. enlarged sectional elevation oat a detail of myimprovements. 5, 6 and? are views of minor modifications of some detailsof my improvements.

Referring now particularly to Fig. 1, flexible pipe '3 connects one ofthe plurality of openings in the usual tracker bar, not shown, withchannel 4 of box 5 supported in the instrument by any well known meansnot shown. This box contains the usual primary pneumatic 6 and valvesand 8 by which air is admitted to exhaust channel 9, which channel isconnected by pipe 10 to channel 11 leading to the underside ofcontrolling or. "secondary pneumatic 33 in my improved detachable unit.For simplicity of illustration sai' box 5 is shown as of integralconstruction but in practice it is preferably built up of a number ofparts glued or otherwise secured together as well known in the art. Inavertical row below said box 5 is "a plurality of tension boxes 12, 13,,14, connected with the usual exhaust bellows "not shown but Well knownin the art. To

the bottom face of each of said tens-ion boxes is secured in horizontalrows respectively a plurality of pneumatic actuati units indica'ted in'a general way, by A, and C.

As said'tension boxes are duplicates of each 1 other and as saidpneumatic units are dupli- Specification of Letters Patent.

. Application filed February 9, 1.911.

Fig.- 3 is 1 atmosphere.

Patented Oct. 15, 1912. Serial No. 607,640.

cates of each other a description of one tension box as 14; and of oneunit as C connected therewith will suilice for all. Tension box 14 isprovided with the usual. tension chamber 15 having an opening 16 inthebottom thereof. Pneumatic unit C for operating an individual soundproducing device is detachablv secured at its forward end to saidtension oox and at its rearward end to frame 17 of the instrument, bymeans to'he hereinafter more fully described. Said pneumatic unit Ccomprises two major sec tions, one being the valve box 18 and the otherbeing the main pneumatic 19 secured to said valve box by any convenientmeans such as screws 20, 20. Valve boX 18 is provided with chamber 21having opening 22 thereof connecting with opening 16 into tensionchamber 15, and opening 23 thereof connecting with channel 24 whichchannel in turn opens into bellows 25 of main pneumatic 19.

Directly above opening 23 from chamber 21 to channel 24 is opening 26 inthe upper wall of said channel. This opening is of suttlcient size topermit the insertion or removal of valve and is provided with coverplate, 27 having opening 28 therethlrough thus connecting channel 24with the Said cover plate 27 is preferably sunk slightly into the upperface of box 18 so as to provide an approximately fiat top face for saidbox. Said plate 27 may be provided with a thin sheet of pack-' ing 29thereunder and may be secured to said box top by screws as 31. Secondaryvalve. 30 lies within channel 24 between openings 23 and 28 and isefiicientto -alternately close those openings, but normally rests on itslower seat thereby closingopening 23.. Said valve is provided with adownwardly reaching stem 32 for engagement with controlling pneumatic 33fixed to the upper face of main. pneumatic 19. Valve 30 stem 32 have avertical. hole 34 there-in for sliding engagement with guide pin 35supported from inreaching arm 36 of plate 27.

F ixed to movable bottom 39 of main pneumatic 19 and inreachingtherefrom is foot 37 for operative engagement with head 38' ofconnecting rod 40. Said connecting rod 40is pivotally attached at 4:2 tothe usual action operating lever-4'1. Said foot 37 has the upper face ofits leading end turned point 45.

beveled at 52 so as to permit free entrance under head 38'of rod 40 whensaid foot is thrust inwardly in installing unit C.

Directing attention now to the means for securing my improved pneumaticunit in -position and the faci ties for quick and when thrust home fillssaid mortise 43 from C in Fig. 2.

one corner-47 to opposite corner 47 thereof and is located crosswisethereby. To prevent edges 46, 46 from cutting corners 47, 47 it issometimes desirable to turn said edges upwardly as at 48, 48 (Fig. 7 toprovide broader surfaces for engagement with edges 47, 47. Or said lip44 may be provided with parallel portions 49, 49 (Fig. 3) to afi'ordlonger contact faces with the sides of mortise 43 when said lip 44 isseated. Upwardly turned point 45 of said lip 44 is ellicient to drawsaid unit'upwardly into place from the position of unit B to that ofunit By supporting said unit both at the front thereof to tension box 14and at the rear thereof to frame 17, I attain a rigidity, precision andaccuracy of actionnot attainable if said unit were supported from saidtension box alone.

The forward end of my improved unit may be removably secured in place bymeans of screw 50 penetrating heel 51 of tension box 14 and having itspoint threaded into valve box 18 or the end of said box 18 may beprovided with fastening means such as hook 55 (Fig. 5) pivoted-at 56thereon and in engagement with pin 57 on tension box 14. A suitableguide pin as 58 may be provided to position box 18 relatively to box 14.

For removing a pneumatic unit without disturbing any other unit or anyother part of the instrument of which it is a part it is necessary onlyto disconnect pipe 10 and loosen screw 50 from engagement with valve box18 or to loosen hcolr- 55 from engagement with pin 57, when the forwardend of said unit will drop, see B. Fig. 2, onto the tension box belowand upon drawing said unit forwardly in the direction of the arrowthereon, lip 44 will be freed from engagement with mortise 43 and foot37 will be drawn out from under head 38 of rod40 whereupon said unithaving a flat top face, may be drawn straight out without interferencewith any of the adjacent units or with any other part of the instrument.Said unit may be replaced or another one substituted therefor byreversing the procedure just described, the beveled end' 52 of foot 37passing freely under head 38 and the upturned nose 45 of lip 44 freelyentering mortise 43 and as said unit is pushed home,

.in the direction opposite to that indicated by the arrow. on unit B,Fig. 2, its back wall 53 will abut frame 17 and its front end bepositioned for receiving the point of screw 50 by which said frontendmay be secured inoperative position against ten-' -S10I1 box 14.

. mary pneumatic 6 and valves 7 8 operated thereby are mounted in aseparate continuous member 5 fixed relatively to the frame of theinstrument and relatively to the ver tical bank of tension boxes towhich my improved units are detachably connected. Said primarypneuma-tics and valves are subject to very slight wear and deteriorationand may be operated for a long period without attention or renewal. Myimproved detachable unit includes only those parts of a pneumaticoperating device which are subjected to the hardest service andtherefore most liable to wear and deterioration. By omitting therefromthe primaryp,neu-. matic and valves said replaceable unit is reduced toits lowest terms whereby the cost of renewals is reduced to a minimum,in time, money and convenience.

The only construction in the prior art with which I am familiar in whichthe primary pneumatic and its valves are omitted from the detachableunit is so constructed and arranged relatively to its tension box as nel4 and thence to the underside of pneu-.

matic 6. (hereby said pneumatic is operated to close valve 7 and openvalve 8 thus opening channel 9 to the atmosphere. The

air thereupon enters said channel 9, which was previously under exhaustpressure,

passes through pipe 10 to channel 11 and under controlling secondarypneumatic 33." Said pneumatic is thereby forced upwardly, 12

lifting valve 30 to uncover opening 23 and cover opening 28. Thisprovides an open way from tension chamber 15 through open ings 16 and22, channel 21 opening 23 and channel 24 to bellows 25 which bellows isL3 thereupon collapsed and foot '3'] drives rod 10 upwardly to operatethe action; The tracker bar opening being again covered, pneumatic 6collapses to its place, valves 7 and 8 fall and tension is againestablished in chamber 9 and thence through tube 10 to channel 11whereby pneumatic 33 is collapsed, valve falls and air is again admitted through opening 28 and channel 24 to bellows 25 thus permittingsaid bellows to expand and foot 37 and rod 40 to return to their idlepositions all as shown in Fig. 1.

I claim:

1. A musical instrument including in combination, a tension box, a rearframe, a pneumatic actuating unit, means detachably se curing said unitto said tension box and a tapered member rearwardly reaching from saidunit detachably securing it to said frame.

2. A musical instrument including in combination, a tension box, a rearframe, a

pneumatic actuating unit and means detachably securing said unit to saidtension box and means rearwardly reaching from said unit detachablysecuring it to said frame, said unit when detached being removablehorizontally forwardly from the instrument.

3. A musical instrument including in combination, a rear frame, apneumatic unit having a tapered lip at its rear end, means on said rearframe for supporting and guiding said tapered lip and means supportingthe forward end of said pneumatic unit.

box, a pneumatic actuating unit, means de- 'tachably securing saidtension box to one end of said actuating unit and a tapered lip on theother end of said actuating unit removably securing it to said frame.

6. A musical instrument including in combination, a tension box, a frameparallel with and independent of said tension box, a pneumatic actuatingunit, means detachably securing one end of said unit to said tension boxand spring means on the other end of said unit removably securing it tosaid frame, said unit when detached thus being free for removal inparallelism with said tension box.

Signed this 30 day of Jan. nineteen hundred and eleven (1911) before twosubscribing witnesses.

NELS MAGN U SON.

Copies of this patent may be obtained for five cents each, by addressingthe Gommissi oner of Patents,

Washington, D. 0.

